Round vent in a square hole

[stlmacgeek]

OK, sorry about the title, but this one is a bit hard to describe.

I am in the middle of a kitchen remodel. It consists of just new cabinets and countertop. Back in the '60s the owners of this house added 2 bedrooms and a bathroom as a 1/2 second story. The way they ran AC/Heat to the upstairs addition was to put a pipe chase in the corner of the kitchen right next to the cabinets. There is also a window near that corner and when they drywalled the ductwork in they put a really strange angle in to keep from blocking the window.

I am trying to figure out how to improve the design of this pipe chase. I would like to avoid the odd angle but I am not sure how to approach it. If I make it a right angle it will block part of the window. They used to have it framed in and drywalled before I removed that. So I turn to the wisdom of my fellow BT3k owners for any suggestions. I have attached some pictures to give you a better idea of what the problem is.

This is the only vent that carries AC/Heat to my sons' rooms upstairs. It certainly doesn't work that great, but it works good enough, except when it is 105F like it was today here in St. Louis. We are trying to get this house ready to sell, so putting a second furnace/AC unit upstairs is not an option. So we have to keep this vent.

thanks in advance, I look forward to hearing your ideas.

Kevin

[TheRic]

Since you are trying to fix it to sell, I take it you don't want to spend a lot of time and money on this. Here are a few things that popped into my mind in no particular order.

Leave vent, and cover again with drywall as it was, or similar
Route vent thru wall
Put cabinets up that will mask the pipe (until you open the doors )
Leave as is and paint it a to match the walls
Leave as is and paint it a different color, as in flaunt it (you see fancy places that do that, why not you!).
If you square off the corner make little shelves to put things on (maybe something like 3/4 of a circle), might even make it look like it was that way on purpose.

Like I said just a few random thoughts.

[Popeye]

See if you can get square or rectangular duct to replace the round one.
Down here we use alot of insulated flex ducting than could be formed into a smaller profile.
Reduce the size of the duct. Pat

[pecker]

When I had a similar problem, I replaced the round with "stack duct", which is rectangular and fits within the wall cavity. So you would have to remove a portion of the finish wall, put in the duct between the studs, add a few adaptors to go from round to rectangular, then put your wallboard back up.

It took more time to plan and obtain the correct parts than to actually do the work. And rectangular duct has a bit less flow and air volume capability than round duct. But it's working OK for me, and got the thing out of the way for the rest of my home improvement project.

[jking]

Along with the idea of downsizing the duct, you could install an in-line booster fan. That would minimize the amount of heating/cooling capacity loss from the smaller duct.

[stlmacgeek]

Thanks!

Thanks for the replies so far guys.

A few thoughts. The walls are plaster. I don't want to open the wall to hide the vent in there.

There already is a booster fan in the vent, it helps some, but not a whole lot.

I think I will go to the big box stores and see if I can find some converter fittings to go from round to rectangular and get this snugged up against the wall.

I also do like the idea of the small shelves on the front of the boxed in vent. I bet my wife will like it too. And it will give me a chance to build something for this remodel. The cabinets we bought were the Lowe's ready to install Oak Cabinets. They look really nice. I would love to build some kitchen cabinets, but since we are planning on moving I didn't want to spend all that time and then leave them in the house, so we went with the Lowe's cabinets.

take care,
Kevin

[mschrank]

This may not be practical, but you're looking for options, right?

Would it be possible to route the ducting along the outside wall? You would have to build a bigger surround to accomodate some insulation, but you would gain that corner back inside the kitchen. Depending on what the exterior siding is, it may not be too difficult to blend the new chase in....?